


alive in a room as usual (if you are broken)

by possibilist



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-24
Updated: 2014-10-24
Packaged: 2018-02-22 10:16:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2504204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/possibilist/pseuds/possibilist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>lafontaine and perry help take care of a slightly-injured carmilla. laferry & carmilla x laura fluff. based on the tumblr prompt: carmilla x laura, 'i'm not used to people caring about me.'</p>
            </blockquote>





	alive in a room as usual (if you are broken)

**Author's Note:**

> carmilla has a broken wrist in this for two hot seconds so i have no idea if there's even a trigger warning for that; nothing is particularly graphic & this is entirely fluffy & humorous, but i suppose just a warmi

alive in a room as usual (if you are broken)

.

_try explaining a life bundled with episodes of this—/ swallowing mud, swallowing glass, the smell of blood/ on the first four knuckles./ we pull our boots on with both hands/ but we can’t punch ourselves awake_

—richard siken, “the torn-up road”

/

You and Perry see the whole thing coming: you spot Carmilla completely oblivious to the world, backpack slung over one shoulder, headphones in, seemingly reading something on her phone, and, predictably, she walks _right_ into the path of a dude riding his bike, which sends her phone flying and you hear a _crack_ before she crumples in on herself.

You’re walking back from dinner—Perry had desperately wanted falafel—and you figure Carmilla was probably headed back to her dorm from her her historiography and historicism seminar—you actually know this is the case, because you _had_ stalked her, after all. Perry immediately gasps and rushes over, so you follow.

Carmilla is sitting up and cradling her left arm, gritting her teeth and fighting back obvious tears, and when they guy on the bike—who is seemingly fine—tries to apologize profusely, Carmilla just glares at him.

“You can leave,” Perry says, and somehow it’s both forceful and soothing, and he apologizes again and then gets on his bike. She kneels down by Carmilla, who hasn’t really stopped grimacing, and you go collect her phone and earbuds before kneeling down with them too—you may think she’s kind of an asshole, but she’s in apparent pain, and plus—how often do you see a vampire get completely leveled by a university bicyclist?

Perry starts asking, “Are you—” before Carmilla cuts her off with a grunt and small nod, trying to stand unsteadily. You wrap an arm around her shoulder before you can even think otherwise, and mostly because Perry would kill you if you refused to help someone who was hurt, and she tries feebly to fight you off for a second before sighing and seemingly resigning herself.

She’s still holding her wrist against her stomach, and she sniffles pathetically and there are a few tears that have tracked their way down her cheeks that she wipes at quickly with her good hand. She’s tiny, you realize—you’d seen her strength and speed before, and she always moved with such assurance, but you can feel the outline of her ribs, and her shoulder is slightly sharp. She could kill you in a second, you’re sure, but at the same time, she really is still almost heartbreakingly small.

“Those were the worst vampire reflexes I’ve ever seen,” you say, and she laughs a little. Perry smiles at you gratefully and ducks down to meet Carmilla’s gaze with a concerned expression—and you really, really do love her; her care has made the world so much better for you for so many years, and maybe if there’s anyone who needs some of Perry’s brave softness, it’s Carmilla.

“My arm is broken,” Carmilla admits, and Perry reaches toward her wrist.

“Can I?”

Carmilla stares somewhere beyond her and nods reluctantly, and then plasters on the most bored expression you’ve ever seen while Perry takes Carmilla’s arm in her hands. You look on avidly—you’re interested in all aspects of medicine, although you love research, but practice is fascinating as well.

Perry tugs back Carmilla’s flannel sleeve and she gasps. Carmilla refuses to look, and she grimaces, although her composure is impressive. The break is bad, both her radius and ulna, and her hand isn’t quite right in the right direction from the rest of her arm. Perry looks away and looks to you, because you’ve always been better at this.

You switch quickly with Perry, shuffling Carmilla over and taking her arm as gently as possible in your hands.

“We need to go to the hospital,” Perry says.

Carmilla laughs hollowly and you bite your bottom lip and smile at Perry for a brief moment. She looks embarrassed but then fond.

“We need—it’ll only take a day or two to heal,” she says. “I don’t need a hospital, just a splint and—” she looks you dead in the eye, and you know it’s a challenge—“someone to set it.”

“I’m sure Laura has a splint somewhere in that first aid kit.”

She nods and Perry sighs.

“Carmilla, are you sure? I mean, Su— _LaFontaine_ isn’t a trained medical professional, and that really is just a terrible—”

“I’ve healed from worse,” she grumbles, and the way she says it makes your heart sink—you know she didn’t tell Laura all of her tragic backstory, and it chills you sometimes, how hurt she must have been. But right now she stalks off in the direction of your dorm, and Perry quickly catches up to her; you figure Carmilla must really be in pain, because she doesn’t even bother to fight her off.

“So no super-strength bones?” you ask, just to take her mind off of things.

“Unfortunately, just mildly stronger, and a lot quicker healing, but—” she moves to hold her arm up—and Laura has told you that Carmilla has just about two million degrees and speaks about as many languages, but she’s an idiot—it sort of _flops_ and she grimaces again, and Perry looks over her head at you pointedly.

“I know you’re obviously one of those brooding, masochistic types, but like, try not to do that again, yeah?”

She doesn’t even bother to acknowledge you, but she does tug her arm closer to her stomach.

You make it to the dorm soon, and when you get her up the stairs and to her hall, she finally shrugs Perry off and then sets her shoulders and walks into her and Laura’s room with her chin tilted up. You follow and watch Laura smile indulgently when she sees Carmilla, and then look at you and Perry in confusion as Carmilla sits on her bed sullenly.

“What are you—what’s wrong?” Laura asks worriedly, hovering almost frantically in the middle of the room.

“Carmilla got absolutely leveled by a dude on a bike and broke her wrist,” you say, and Carmilla rolls her eyes while Laura moves to hover beside her in a flash. “Apparently you have to actually care about life to benefit from vampire superpowers.”

“I was reading an email—” Carmilla starts to mumble, but Laura's eyes are worried and her hands sort of flutter uselessly, so Carmilla looks to her surprisingly gently reassures, “And no, cupcake, I’m not going to the hospital. LaFontaine will set it and I need a splint and a sling, unfortunately, for a day or two.”

“Oh—okay,” Laura says, and immediately grabs a gigantic first aid kit from under her bed. Carmilla stares unabashedly at her ass, but then Laura pops up and riffles through the kit until she produces a splint and a sling, and you’re a bit impressed at the variety of supplies in that thing.

“Would Advil help?” Perry asks, sitting on the floor and examining the contents.

Carmilla mutters, “Vodka would help.”

It makes you laugh, which makes Carmilla glare, which makes Laura smile, and she comes to sit on Carmilla’s other side, takes her good hand. Carmilla sighs and rolls her eyes but doesn’t move even the slightest bit to pull it away, and you and Perry share a quick smile—bizarrely, they’re good for each other, and watching both of them bloom a little bit has been strangely wonderful.

Your dad was the only doctor in your small town, so you’ve actually seen him set plenty of fractures before, and even practiced on a few when you were home last summer. “What’s your pain threshold?” you ask.

Laura looks much more frightened than Carmilla, who just shrugs. “Whatever,” she says.

You look at Perry, who immediately starts fluttering around the kitchen, probably preparing cocoa. You look to make sure Carmilla isn’t bleeding—you still haven’t really nailed down the whole vampire biology thing—and you determine, to the best of your abilities, that she’s not and you don’t have to bother with anything to do with a hematoma. Still, most fractures are reduced under some sort of anesthetics, and you doubt that Laura’s kit has that in it, or if it’d even _work_ , so you tell Carmilla, “Well, this is going to hurt.”

“I know,” she says flatly.

“Okay, then,” you say, and you take her wrist in your hand gently but surely and tug with as much care as you can, align the bones. You feel the pressure and then a tiny crunch, and Carmilla actually whimpers, but you nod. Her arm already looks better, her hand pointing the right way, and Laura looks between tears and throwing up. But their hands are still intertwined, Carmilla’s fingers digging into the top of Laura’s hand, who isn’t flinching at the pressure at all.

You hear Perry say, “Oh my,” and then turn around again and get out a plate in the kitchen.

Laura brushes aside Carmilla’s bangs and asks, “Are you okay.”

“Never been better, sweetheart,” she deadpans, but there’s some sweetness there that makes you hide a smile by picking up the splint.

You make sure it’s secured properly, and the entire time Laura rambles about something in her Western Civ class that Carmilla generally does look interested in, and by the time you’re done, she does look like she’s in less pain.

“Move your fingers for me,” you instruct, and she looks away from Laura long enough to fist her hand with a groan, but everything seems to have full range of motion. “Great,” you say. “And, you know, wear the sling and let it heal, okay?”

“Yes, Mother,” she says, but there’s no malice in her tone.

Perry checks, “Are you done?” and once you nod, she rushes over with cocoa and a plate of cookies and hands them both to Laura before saying, “I can—there’s blood, right? If you—”

Carmilla shakes her head—she's pale and you have no idea if vampires can throw up, but her answer is expected: “I’m a little—no, human food is fine.”

Laura holds the cup of cocoa to Carmilla’s lips but Carmilla makes a face and—with a pout—unlaces their fingers and takes it herself.

You start cleaning up the few leftover supplies, and you toss the sling at Carmilla, who manages to put down the cup of cocoa and catch it deftly in less than half a second.

All three of you stare as she grins, and then you start laughing. “How did you get nailed by a bike?”

She can’t blush but you know she’d be flushed with embarrassment right now, and she insists, “ _I was reading an email_.”

You still laugh, and Perry asks, “Do you need anything else?”

Laura looks at Carmilla worriedly, but Carmilla shakes her head. “I’ll be fine.” She nods in your direction. “And compliant.”

“Laura,” you instruct, “please make sure she actually wears the sling. I don’t know how we’d explain a vampire at the hospital.”

Laura nods and sternly looks at Carmilla before standing to give you and Perry hugs, and you head out of the dorm.

Perry smiles and takes your hand, presses a quick kiss to your lips. “You’re so sexy when you’re in doctor mode.”

You laugh and squeeze her hand. “I love you, all-too-caring human.”

She scrunches her nose sweetly and then says, “I love you too.”

/

The next morning, you go to check on Carmilla—mostly because Perry promised you a lunchtime quickie if you did—and when you open the door, you immediately quiet, because Laura and Carmilla are curled up together in Laura’s bed, Carmilla’s good arm wrapped around Laura, who is resting her head on Carmilla’s chest beside the sling, and she's rubbing small circles on her stomach underneath Carmilla’s t-shirt.

You smile—because they really are _cute_ —and Laura glances up tiredly, but then smiles too. She nods, and that night she and a very reluctant Carmilla knock on your door. Perry answers and you follow behind, and Laura is holding a few bags with what looks like Chinese takeout, and Carmilla is apathetically carrying a tiny box of fortune cookies, still faithfully wearing her sling.

Laura steps into your dorm and gestures for Carmilla to follow, and Perry immediately starts getting out plates and her “good chopsticks.” Carmilla walks into the kitchen with a sigh and drops the box with disdain, but then Laura glares at her and says, “You promised, Carmilla.”

“Fine,” Carmilla grants after a few seconds of reluctance. “I bought you dinner for helping me, and Laura wants to know if you want us to—” she glares at Laura, who gives her a thumbs up—“if you want our company.”

The way she says _us_ and _our_ gives you another clue, and Perry says, “Of course we want your company for dinner.”

“Great,” Carmilla mumbles, and then Laura scratches the small of her back and presses a kiss to Carmilla’s cheek. Carmilla wrinkles her nose but you can tell she’s fighting back a grin, and you look at Perry, who confirms with a smirk and nod that she saw that too.

The dorm you and Perry share is much bigger than the others on the floor—more like a small apartment, so you sit around your little table, and Carmilla looks away with almost painful embarrassment when Laura puts food on her plate for her, but she nods in thanks afterward.

And overall she’s actually not even really unpleasant, and part of that might be due to the fact that Laura’s left hand is _somewhere_ under the table for about half of your meal. She talks a little bit about her classes, even, and tells a story about Berkeley in the 1960s.

Eventually, Laura starts to look a little tired, and Carmilla notices and stands, takes her plate—after a glare from Laura—to the sink. Laura follows, and you don’t miss the slight touch to Carmilla’s hip that she makes.

“It was wonderful having you over,” Perry says. “We’ll have to make this a tradition.”

Laura says, “Of course!” at the same time Carmilla mutters, “Fantastic,” and you laugh.

As they’re heading out the door, Carmilla turns and shuffles for a second, then meets your eyes sincerely. “Thank you,” she says quietly. “I don’t—I’m not used to people taking care of me.”

You nod, and then you say, “Totally worth it to see you get nailed by a bike.”

She scoffs to hide an embarrassed smile, and Perry snakes an arm around your waist, and you watch Laura take Carmilla’s hand as they head down the hall—and yeah, you and Perry saw that whole thing coming too.


End file.
